Buried Cities, Volume 1: Pompeii

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Jennie Hall. Buried Cities, Volume 1: Pompeii

BURIED CITIES. BY. JENNIE HALL

FOREWORD: TO BOYS AND GIRLS

POMPEII

THE GREEK SLAVE AND THE LITTLE ROMAN BOY

VESUVIUS

POMPEII TO-DAY

PICTURES OF POMPEII

A ROMAN BOY

THE CITY OF NAPLES, WITH MOUNT VESUVIUS ACROSS THE BAY

VESUVIUS IN ERUPTION, FROM AN AIRPLANE

POMPEII FROM AN AIRPLANE

THE STABIAN GATE

IN THE STREET OF TOMBS

THE AMPHITHEATER

RUINS OF THE GREAT STABIAN BATHS

THE RUINED TEMPLE OF APOLLO

THE SCHOOL OF THE GLADIATORS

THE SMALLER THEATER

A SACRIFICE

A SCENE IN THE FORUM

IVORY HAIRPINS

APPLIANCES FOR THE BATH

PERISTYLE OF THE HOUSE OF THE VETTII

LADY PLAYING A HARP

KITCHEN OF THE HOUSE OF THE VETTII

KITCHEN UTENSILS

CENTAUR CUP

THE HOUSE OF THE TRAGIC POET (restored)

THE HOUSE OF THE TRAGIC POET (as it looks to-day)

MOSAIC OF WATCH DOG

THE HOUSE OF DIOMEDE

RUINS OF A BAKERY, WITH MILLSTONES

SECTION OF A MILL

PORTRAIT OF LUCIUS CÆCILIUS JUCUNDUS

BRONZE CANDLEHOLDER

THE DANCING FAUN

HERMES IN REPOSE

THE ARCH OF NERO

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Do you like to dig for hidden treasure? Have you ever found Indian arrowheads or Indian pottery? I knew a boy who was digging a cave in a sandy place, and he found an Indian grave. With his own hands he uncovered the bones and skull of some brave warrior. That brown skull was more precious to him than a mint of money. Another boy I knew was making a cave of his own. Suddenly he dug into an older one made years before. He crawled into it with a leaping heart and began to explore. He found an old carpet and a bit of burned candle. They proved that some one had lived there. What kind of a man had he been and what kind of life had he lived—black or white or red, robber or beggar or adventurer? Some of us were walking in the woods one day when we saw a bone sticking out of the ground. Luckily we had a spade, and we set to work digging. Not one moment was the tool idle. First one bone and then another came to light and among them a perfect horse's skull. We felt as though we had rescued Captain Kidd's treasure, and we went home draped in bones.

Suppose that instead of finding the bones of a horse we had uncovered a gold-wrapped king. Suppose that instead of a deserted cave that boy had dug into a whole buried city with theaters and mills and shops and beautiful houses. Suppose that instead of picking up an Indian arrowhead you could find old golden vases and crowns and bronze swords lying in the earth. If you could be a digger and a finder and could choose your find, would you choose a marble statue or a buried bakeshop with bread two thousand years old still in the oven or a king's grave filled with golden gifts? It is of such digging and such finding that this book tells.

.....

Ariston began to be more afraid. He thought of Death as he had painted him in his picture. He imagined that he saw him hiding behind a column. He thought he heard his cruel laugh. He tried to look up toward the mountain, but the stones pelted him down. He felt terribly alone. Was all the rest of the world dead? Or was every one else in some safe place?

"Come, Caius, we must get away," he cried. "We shall be buried here."

.....